ROANOKE – It's often the little things that really make the holiday season brighter. A family tradition of hanging up Christmas cards almost didn't happen for Stacy Fulton after her grandmother and legal guardian passed away. At 38 years of age, Stacy, who also faces a mental disability, lives on her own, but still requires daily visits from her family. Thanks to the kindness of strangers, she has a filled mailbox every day.
"Stacy is a very special person and having a mental challenge, it's very important that she realizes how much love that she gets too,” said Elaine Chocklett, Stacy’s cousin and now legal guardian.
Not forgotten this Christmas season, when the postman comes, Stacy Fulton and her little dog, Hokie, who’s also dressed in a Christmas sweater, rush to the door. For days now, she’s received a handful of Christmas cards. Many are from people Stacy has never met.
"All of my name, it's got Stacy, Stacy, Stacy on them," Stacy said with excitement.
Christmas cards started to pour in after Elaine made this Facebook post:
"Stacy is my mentally challenged cousin from whom I am legal guardian. She does great, I'm just wondering if anyone would like to send her a Christmas card? She's seen them hung in doorways before with living with Grandma, but she has one lonely card hanging in her doorway, oh yes, I'm going to send her one...would you?”
Elaine says Stacy picked up the tradition from their late grandmother. After she passed, the Christmas cards dwindled. Stacy continued the tradition, even though at the start of the season she only had one Christmas card to hang up. Elaine noticed and wanted to help change that. That’s when she took to Facebook.
"She would always hang up cards all the way around the doorway. So whenever I saw that one little lonely card up there, then I thought she needs some more cards so it could be like it used to be,” Elaine said.
Thanks to her post on social media, this year, the cards have poured in. Elaine sits down every day and reads them with her.
"Well, I'm getting a whole bunch of them,” Stacy said.
Keeping the tradition going, WSLS 10 News brought a stack of cards as well.
Elaine says she hopes Stacy’s story will remind people that the holidays are about family, and about the birth of Jesus Christ. She wants others to reach out to others like Stacy, and let them know that they are loved.
A simple gift that Elaine and Stacy remind us all, that it's the love and little things that Christmas is all about.